running fits?

[full circle kennel]

was hoping for a little input on a dog having a running fit. a friend of mine has a super nice 14 mnth old female that has had a few fits during running. these fits dont seem to be of an epileptic nature. they are more of the dog running around hollaring/ going crazy type either while running rabbit or searching for one. he is very concerned as she is a super nice young dog. anyone that has had any experience please share your info. other than that she is healthy , no worms , has been on several diff. foods and seems to be very normal. these fits only take place after running for a few hours and are differant than a hypogycemic dog / low blood sugar. lastly, does anyone know if somthing like this may be passed to any pups she may have someday? as of right now it seem the odds are against her but she is one of the best young dogs i have ever seen!

[Beagled1]

It actually does sound like a petit mal seizure ... they look completely different than the more serious grand mals, but both are epileptic in nature During the petit mals, or with the less serious "auras", dogs appear to be disproented, display obsessive/compulsive behaviors such as pacing, turning, or running into objects. Sometimes they start "fly biting" at the air. In some instances, the entire seizure is nothing more than a dull staring off into space. The grand mals are the classic seizures where the dog goes stiff & falls over on it's side, begins to shake, etc. Often, the petit mals will progress into grand mals as the dog ages ... I have an epileptic going on 8yrs old soon. He started out w/ auras then progressed to grand mals. Every seizure is different, however he ALWAYS starts it by running head on into something, then will fall over and have a sever seizure.

Both types of seizures are neurological disorders and forms of ideopathic epilepsy ... They are TRIGGERED by stress, over exertion, extreme hot or cold weather, diet ... the list goes on, but those are the major triggers. They are 100% genetic - if you breed a dog with any form of epilepsy, 50% of the litter will be affected, while another 25% will be carriers. Once a dog displays a certain trait, they are dominant for it, and your friend will never be able to rid his line of it if he breeds her. There are just too many outstanding examples of the breed to justify breeding a dog that has any type of fits/seizures ... I know a Lab breeder whose dogs have these "running fits" - someone who bought a pup from him was describing it to me once, and I told him it was epilepsy. He swore left & right that it was not a seizure, until one day the dog actually did fall over and seize during this fit. That was the first and only time the dog did this. He told the breeder but unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears.

Epilepsy is a known genetic disease in the Beagle, but so many breeders dismiss it as hypoglycemia - which it is NOT - hypoglycemic dogs have other symptoms, and only if the blood sugar drops to near fatal lows, will the dog seize/loose consciousness. All "fits" are epileptic in nature; they just vary in degrees of seriousness and type (auras, petit mal, grand mal, ).


This site is an excellent resource on canine epilepsy & I believe describes the type of seizure your friend's dog is displaying: http://www.canine-epilepsy.net/basics/basics_index.html

"Complex focal seizures originate in the areas of the brain that control emotions and behavior (the temporal lobes) and are sometimes called psychomotor seizures. When a seizure begins in one of these areas, the animal's consciousness is altered and they behave bizarrely. They may run uncontrollably, engage in senseless, repetitive behavior, or rarely fly into a rage. Other times, we see bodily functions affected and the pet may have diarrhea or vomit. Following a typical generalized seizure, unusual behavior (post-ictal behavior) is common and may go on for hours. Complex focal seizures, like other types of seizures, are typically very brief.
Most often, an animal behaving aggressively or acting strangely has a behavioral problem or some other reason for the change in behavior. If, however, these changes occur as discrete episodes, and the pet also has a generalized seizure, we can be sure that this is a complex focal seizure and treat it accordingly. People with complex focal seizures may experience hallucinations. Some dogs have episodes of fly-biting where they appear to be biting at imaginary flies around their head. Some of these may be complex focal seizures although we cannot tell for sure."

[hunter07]

I have a grade male about 1 1/2 year old and seems to do about the same thing every once in a while. He'll be out running then all a sudden he come running back, tail tucked and bawlen, i mean screamin his brains out. he'll run in circles and you cant hardly touch him and hes normally as nice a dog as can be. Give him a vew minutes and he goes back out and seems fine. HE seems to do it one or two times a month, other than that he seems very normal, healthy and happy. if you find out what is wrong please post it

[allniter]

I also had a dog do the same thing act like it was lost or some thing got after it --running in circles could not call in or catch it for about 3--to 5 min. ---first I though that shock collar was being turned on some way but the dog didn't act like it was being shock --the first time she did it I thought a deer hunter spooked her--after she clamed down she went back to huning just fine ---if you fine any thing out let us know ---I have not found a vet to tell me yet for sure what cause it

[full circle kennel]

thanks everyone for your input! i will pass along the info asap and will post any additional info on this dog or what i find out. he will most likly spay her i assume. that is a scary thing with 3/4 of her offspring being affected. very sad...

[Jason Bastin]

I have a 2 yr old male that has running fits also. He will be hunting and running fine and all of a sudden, he starts giving a low sounding bawl and just running around like he's crazy. I was running with Don Smith from Stanford, KY one day and he saw my male have one of his fits. He told me to give him 1 fish oil pill a day. Reluctantly, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a bottle. I just started throwing 1 pill every day into his food bowl with his food and within a couple or three days, he stopped having running fits. IT WORKS!